[Review] ATOM RPG: Post-apocalyptic indie game

ATOM RPG is as the name suggests a role-playing game created by Eastern-European developer, ATOM Team. Which I know virtually nothing about but I am ready to sell my soul to. ᴾˡᵉᵃˢᵉ ʰᶦʳᵉ ᵐᵉ. The easiest way to describe ATOM RPG is Fallout 1 & 2 with 3D models, less outdated mechanics, and a new coat of paint.

The new coat of paint being post-apocalyptic Soviet Russia. Imagine the Cold War, imagine that the war got hot. So hot you could grill a chicken, except YOU are the chicken and the heat is a lethal dose of radiation. The main story I will not get into except for the basics.

You are an operative of a secret organization called ATOM. ATOM is basically the post-war Illuminati. trying to gain control of now lawless Russia and re-establishing civilization. Let the workers unite! Like many other games, the main storyline of ATOM RPG is really basic and just a placeholder for the game to function.

The charm comes from the rest of the world and the weird inhabitants you meet in it. If you suffer from a bad case of "me-no-like-reading", you may have trouble playing this game. Trust me, There will be a lot of reading ahead. You start the game out by creating a Gopnik or Slavette of your choice.

This is important to determine what kind of playstyle you will go with at least from the start. Believe me, unless you play on Easy, you might need to think it through. You get to choose from a fair amount of avatars and you get points to allocate to different skills and stats, allowing you to make the person your parents wanted you to be.

A lot of different situations throughout the game require a specific set of skills, which if you do not possess, you will be locked out of. Don't fret however, even when you eventually recreate your own life by failing to satisfy every sexual partner you meet, you can still use your more refined skills like studying the blade, breaking into people's houses to steal their belongings, crafting enough shivs to take back the Motherland, and, getting shot by your comrades FOR THE 27TH TIME! In ATOM RPG, you cannot do everything in one playthrough at least not until you reach a high enough level to do so But by then, you've already finished the game.

If you have ever played any Fallout 1 or 2 clone, you should know what you're getting into. But if you're not a BOOMER , you may have trouble getting into it as most of the game is walking, reading, waiting, and even more reading. ATOM RPG is split into three segments: Exploring, combat, and exhausting every dialogue option.

The exploration aspect is going from one town with a hard to pronounce name, to the next. Otra- Otrad- Otradno-YE. Fo- F- Fogelevka. Krasnoz- nemmmm- Krrrrr- While looting anything in between betraying your back for those cold hard rubles. This is the second most time-consuming thing in the game.

But if you back out of a game because you can't handle a little person walking across your screen, you're committing a hate crime, and the authorities are on their way. Combat is turn-based and at times impossible, if you're not a pumped-up Soviet hero with a taste for capitalist blood.

When you start the game, you can barely fight a dog. Actually, scratch that. Unless you go all melee from the beginning, dogs CAN and WILL eat you. Charismatic characters are incredibly viable, but lack any kind of power to deal with early game fights.

As you progress however, you become gradually stronger and better with weapons of your choice and you get the ability to do this: Whereas combat oriented characters can give and take more hits, while not missing every single shot and punch. But will be clueless when they're faced with ZOOMER CREATIONS like DOORS, and PERSONAL COMPUTERS.

Following in the footsteps of every game with turn-based combat, You will curse the early levels as you punch a man for 2 damage and he turns around and takes your head off with a 264 damage crit. RNG is a massive factor, as it allows you to massacre entire villages in a few shots, or punch people to the ground.

Actively stunning them, and offering your dog a free meal. The early game will be rough. But just remember fellow gamer, one day, you too can do your own war crimes. The dialogue will be the main attraction of the game and at times it might surprise you with how absolutely stupid, disgusting, horrifying, and wholesome the writing is.

Albeit a few noticeable, but not noteworthy grammar issues, the game is surprisingly well translated and the humor is dark and twisted for all you deviants out there.
28 STAB WOUNDS Your skill points and stats also matter here, as different NPCs might have different triggers and outcomes depending on a character's ability to negotiate, annihilate, and fornicate.

You can also choose to recruit weird social dropouts like yourself into your little band of murderers, who will often interject in your conversations to praise you, question you, or threaten you for your choices. There's not many companions as of now, counting at five, with one of them locking out the ability to get the rest.

But there's plenty of dialogue and personality to the current cast that it's not a problem at all, except one's a dog. And as we know, dogs don't talk. Animals don't talk. Unlike Fallout, the game doesn't have a karma system. And your reputation is based on whether or not you tell someone to eat your ass, or you offer to eat theirs.

Your actions usually end up being for the individual NPC, and not the settlement they live in. Killing one guy in the city however will result in your entire bloodline being eradicated with extreme prejudice. So I wouldn't recommend it. Unless you of course are playing on the survival mode, and you're level 27, ᴀɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴀᴄʜɪᴇᴠᴇᴍᴇɴᴛ...

Just kidding, just use the console. Remember to save your game often. As sometimes your words can end up getting you killed, or locked out of sinful carnal activities like having premarital sex in a bathroom. So, "What's the catch?" you ask. While the game is relatively new, it's still created by indie developers.

Meaning that there's always going to be a bit of jank in it, and at times it might even feel cheap. The combat system and the inventory system are exact replicas of the older Fallout games, making the game feel outdated and at times really clunky. There's also a lack of real meaning to the relations you create most of the game.

As every friend you make is confined to the location in the world and runs out of dialogue quickly, and every sexual encounter is a one-night stand. AND I CAN'T FUCK MY COMPANIONS! The game feels a bit weirdly paced as late-game when you finally have all you need, there's really not much to do by that point as you've already spread the word of the Lord to every corner of the world.

Luckily, the devs are currently making an expansion and have actively while not often updated the game over time. Mostly the occasional bug fixes, but in some cases added new NPCs, areas, and weapons. Safe to say, the updates have been great and it only seems like the game will be getting more content.

With a price like this, I don't feel like you've got anything to complain about however, and it's obvious how much the developers care about their creation making the cheapness come off as charming rather than well, cheap. The purpose of this video is to show a game, which I feel has been unfairly looked over by Western audiences as I really only see Russian people talk about it.

Contrary to popular belief, I don't speak Russian! But I do like this game, despite all of its flaws. And I believe it's a game that should be tried if you enjoy games like Fallout 1 & 2, Wasteland and UnderRail, but want a more casual experience than some of the others.

ATOM RPG is a definite tryout. The game also has modding support. But as nobody but Russians play it, I have no idea what they do, and there is very few of them. Help a brother out and make some mods so I don't have to suddenly start putting effort into anything in my life.